Welcome to our Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023–24

We are committed to making sure our customers have access to high-quality, affordable and efficient water and wastewater services, while we protect and enhance our communities and the environment.

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We provide essential water services to 2.7 million customers and wastewater services to more than 4.7 million customers across Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

Every day we supply 570 million litres of water, along 13,973km of network via 635 pumping stations, and remove 1,522 million litres of wastewater along a 40,058 km network via 3,519 pumping stations.

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to provide water for life to:

Enhance health and wellbeing

Protect and improve the environment

Sustain the economy

Enhance health and wellbeing

Protect and improve the environment

Sustain the economy

Our Vision and Values

We are working to create a resilient water future for our customers in the South East.

Our vision, purpose and values, alongside our ethical decision making and modern compliance frameworks, help our leadership team, employees and partners make better decisions every day.

Succeeding together

Doing the right thing

Always improving

Working with care

Financial highlights

Revenue (£m)

784.2 20-21

950.5 21-22

833.1 22-23

Profit (£m)

Before interest and tax

784.2 20-21

950.5 21-22

833.1 22-23

Amex case study

We’ve had great success with our pilot audits so far, including at the Amex Stadium in Brighton where we carried out fixes to over 45 leaks. We then fitted water efficiency devices to toilets and taps across the site. In total the audit has saved the stadium over 40,000 litres of water a day.

Caitlin Baldwin, Graduate Management Trainee

“I have been blown away by the support, kindness and welcoming environment I am now working in. The support from the Talent and Development Team, my Regional Manager and Field Performance Manager has been fantastic!”

Southern Water And South Western Water Have This Morning Been Slammed Over Their Environmental Record Which The Sector Watchdog Called Consistently Unacceptable 1321498927 (1)

Operational performance

Our Water for Life Business Plan 2020–25 is broad and ambitious and includes 47 clear customer commitments. We recognise that performance needs to be improved for our customers and the environment and we have detailed plans in place to do this. Our Turnaround Plan explicitly targets improvements in health and safety, capability, systems and technology, resilience of our assets, digitalisation, logistics, compliance and customer service.

Our focus areas

A reliable supply of water for our customers:

Safeguarding resources and making sure our customers have access to a supply of high quality water now and into the future.

Trusted and easy customer service:

Supporting our customers with easy service and transparent communications that show we care for our communities.

Healthy rivers and seas:

Protecting and improving the environment, working transparently to enhance inland and coastal habitats.

Empowered and supported colleagues:

Supporting our customers with easy service and transparent communications that show we care for our communities.

A reliable supply of water for our customers:

Safeguarding resources and making sure our customers have access to a supply of high quality water now and into the future.

Trusted and easy customer service:

Supporting our customers with easy service and transparent communications that show we care for our communities.

Healthy rivers and seas:

Protecting and improving the environment, working transparently to enhance inland and coastal habitats.

Empowered and supported colleagues:

Supporting our customers with easy service and transparent communications that show we care for our communities.

Statement: Chair Chief Executive

Chair's statement

More than a year on from the publication of our Turnaround Plan, a service commitment to its customers, Southern Water is starting to see an improvement in performance. With more than 2,600 colleagues, and many more supply chain partners, working to a clear set of customer priorities, the Executive has focused teams across the business on building more resilience into our operations, reducing total pollutions, and improving water quality and our wastewater treatment works’ compliance record.

There are some key areas where our 2020–25 targets remain challenging but the Turnaround Plan – supported with further significant additional funding from our largest shareholder, Macquarie, bringing our total capital investment to over £3 billion for this asset management period – is delivering a step change to prepare our business to deliver our ambitious plans for the next investment period to 2030 and beyond.